DATE: January 12, 2003

PUBLICATION: Philippine Star

TITLE: Botong Pinoy (under BABE'S EYE VIEW)

AUTHOR: Babe Romualdez

The other day, Philippine STAR director Ronnie Asuncion and I met a couple of young Filipino computer wizards led by Raffy Garcia who showed us what could well be the answer to our never-ending clamor for clean, orderly and credible elections in 2004. It’s called Botong Pinoy, a kind of computer program that uses photo and fingerprinting identification technology, the same kind being used today by US Immigration officials in almost all US ports to countercheck the inflow of tourists and immigrants to the US especially after 9-11.

This particular one, however, is 10 times faster, more efficient and secure, and displays 100 percent Filipino creativity.

I am told a number of people have seen the hands-on presentation including presidential candidate Raul Roco, Teddy Boy Locsin, various denominations of the Church, and some members of the COMELEC, and they all agreed that something like this should be utilized come 2004.

Tomorrow, the group is scheduled to present it to members of Philippines Inc, a business group representing PCCI and ECOP, among others.

Raul Roco would benefit highly from this technology. He does not have to spend more than what is needed for watchers and other election-related expenses because the technology requires very minimal human supervision.

I can never say it enough: 2004 is a critical year for most Filipinos, and this is our last chance to get the country back on track. It is absolutely correct for the administration to make clean and credible elections a priority in the next 16 months. We have to vote for a credible and trustworthy leader into office, one that an absolute majority must choose. Even Joseph Estrada who got 39 percent of the voting population was still considered a minority president. This is perhaps why the country continues to be a divided nation because having a multiparty system, the national election always produces a minority president.

We could do away with this (and with its consequences, like People Power) by having a run-off and by picking only the top two candidates. With this technology, the cost of a run-off would be incremental, and it will help ensure that the winning candidate has the absolute majority of the voters chosen through a hack-proof computer identification process.

I must commend this group because it is prepared to donate this technology as its contribution to the cause for clean and orderly elections. Its only hidden agenda, if you could call it that, is that if it’s proven successful, it could sell the technology to other countries, and perhaps be proud of this special Filipino achievement. In fact, there are already countries that have expressed their interest in the system.

The whole procedure is simple. During the voter’s registration, the computer will take your picture and fingerprint for identification and filing purposes and include them electronically in the COMELEC list. As you vote in the precinct during the election proper, the same computer would again take your photo and fingerprints and compare it with a million photos and fingerprint files in the list. Once the system recognizes and identifies you, only then would you be allowed to vote.

Just by pointing to a picture of a candidate on the touch-sensitive computer screen, the system would then send your vote to a secure website for the quick count.

Thereafter, it would print out your copy of the ballot containing a list of candidates you have voted for, a computer printout of your fingerprint, and a security barcode.

When voting hours finally come to a close, the computer would then print out in less than an hour the Precinct Tally Sheet. We can in fact know the winner within the same day.

The technology is so fast and efficient, it could tabulate election results in a municipality or city, district, provincial and National level within a day even with a low-grade computer unit. It could even accommodate, with no extra burden on the system, the votes of six to eight million OFWs once the Absentee Voting Bill has been passed.

The overall cost of installing and operating this computer program nationwide come 2004 is really a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of regular elections which could sometimes swell from P18 billion to P20 billion. The technology will do away with dagdag-bawas, since there is no way it could be hacked and manipulated because of its ingenious security codes and secret devises. You can call it by any other name, but in a nutshell, this is the kind of cooperation and ingenuity from Filipinos we need to lessen the margin of cheating and expenditures come election time, especially during the 2004 presidential polls.

There’s no question that this technology is what we need to eliminate all manner of cheating like the dagdag-bawas, flying voters, and kadena systems. Candidates do not have to fear this technology and in fact appreciate it because it would cost them less to run for office once the system is in place.

Eventually, the COMELEC could lend the computers to provincial schools after the elections, helping the educational system in the process. Whether P5, P10 or P20 billion, the cost of installing and bringing the system to the rest of the provinces does not really matter.

What is important is that the country today must protect its right to vote orderly and honestly, and this technology could help us achieve this goal. I would even venture to suggest that we use every media-based technology available in the market, such as the Dream TV system, as a helpful addition to Botong Pinoy. Because of its powerful satellite capabilities, we could reach every Filipino in every nook and corner of the country, in all of its 7,100 islands.

A few weeks before elections, we could use this technology to broadcast a portion for each presidential candidate – listing their achievements, their political track record and affiliations, educational attainment, employment history, family background, even pending court cases, if any. Through advanced mass media technology, we could increase the awareness of the public about their candidates. Who knows this might even level the political playing field. No doubt, the advantages of having all these technologies working for us tremendously outweigh the savings we could get for not having them. If it is really clean and credible elections we want, could we actually afford not to have them then? What we will need here is the political will with a vision.

Botong Pinoy, dapat boto tayo d’yan.

mail: babeseyeview@hotmail.com